In the frame of the WeWild project, ALPARC aims at developing a joint Alps-wide communication strategy and several joint communication tools that will help reduce the impact of snow sports on wildlife in the Alps. ALPARC wants to gather protected areas as well as other key players and interested partners in the Alps behind this joint initiative.Over the summer months, the ALPARC operational unit has intensively worked with external communication experts and the project’s steering committee on the content of the communication strategy and on the concepts of the communication tools: logo, video-clip and website. The video clip will be made by a Chamonix-based studio specialized in skiing and outdoor images and we hope that by underlining these elements, it will speak to a maximum number of recreationists. It will be released in December, when the logo and the website will also be launched. The website will deliver essential information and awareness raising messages for outdoor participants and besides that, will provide a space that presents the initiative, its partnerships and how to join it.The two upcoming months will give the opportunity to exchange on these developments with the ALPARC network. A first meeting for French parks and reserves will take place in Bourg-d’Oisans on September 21st 2017: wildlife disturbance and environmental impacts of outdoor activities are burning issues in France and many protected areas are looking for ways to raise awareness and change the behaviours of their visitors, also in a joint way. Then on October 19th and 20th, a second international WeWild workshop in Aree protette dell’Ossola in northern Italy will take place (after the first one in Vorarlberg in March 2017). The main objectives of this second workshop will be to gather feedback on the communication strategy and its tools, to discuss their joint circulation in winter 2017/2018 and how to develop further the WeWild partnership. Registration is already open:

For the workshop in France, register here. For the international workshop in Ossola, register here.ALPARC is looking forward to seeing you at one of these upcoming events.

A big thank you to Maša Klemenčič who has supported ALPARC and in particular this project as a project assistant over the last six months and who left the ALPARC operational unit in Chambéry in the beginning of September. ALPARC wishes her all the best for the future.For more details on the project, please contact dominik.cremer-schulte@alparc.org.

The WeWild project is financed by the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN, Germany) with funds of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB, Germany).

Further readingTogether with researchers from the Savoy-Mont Blanc University and the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, the ALPARC team recently published an article on this topic in the journal eco.mont, resuming the results of the 2016 international workshop that was held in France. The article is accessible online at this link.